If ComScore's estimates are to be believed, consumers will spend a total of $43.4 billion on online shopping during the holidays.

Mind you, this is only for November and December, so it's quite a pretty penny. Considering that the world is supposed to be going through a tough economic patch, it may sound a bit overly optimistic though.

If the estimate turns out to be correct, it will be a 17 percent on-year increase, building on the 15 percent on-year increase in 2011. Retail industry's expectations however are a bit more modest, expecting a mere 4.1 percent increase in spending in 2012.

It appears as if the supposed troubles have only changed the actual shopping method, because they sure don't seem to have stopped anyone. In fact, the first 18 days of the holiday season raked in $10.1 billion, which is 16 percent higher than last year. Online sales apparently peaked on November 8, with consumers spending $829 million on the day.

As is the norm, Microsoft will be offering a couple of holiday bundles this holiday season. In addition these two holiday bundles are getting slashed $50 off the price by Microsoft. From what our sources tell us, Microsoft is offering these same bundles to all retailers, but there will be some other console options out there, such as the Microsoft Halo 4 Limited Edition console, for example that will continue to carry the regular asking price.

The first holiday bundle package is the 4GB Kinect package. The 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle will include a flat black Xbox 360 console with 4GB of built-in flash memory, Kinect Adventures, Kinect Disneyland, as well as a single wireless controller and wired headset.

The second holiday bundle includes the flat black Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive, one wireless controller, wired headset, Forza 4, and a download token for Skyrim. Users have to redeem the download token and download Skyrim to the hard drive which, of course, takes storage space.

You can have either of these holiday bundles for $299, which is a $50 savings over the $349 regular price that we have been seeing regularly. According to what sources are telling us, Microsoft will not be cutting the price of the Xbox 360 4GB core package by $50 which is what many have been hoping for. In addition, the price cuts might only be temporary and could revert back to their original pricing as soon as February 1st.

Sources have whispered to us that Nintendo is going to be spending heavily this holiday season to promote both the Wii U and 3DS XL. The advertising push will not be limited to just North America, but Europe and Japan will see a very significant spend as the company will heavily promote using TV, social media and print.

It is believed that Nintendo’s plan is to promote the 3DS XL very hard, with a bit of the Wii U sprinkled in. Nintendo is expected to be targeting both first time buyers as well as upgraders this holiday season. It is believed that Nintendo is looking to place a lot of focus on the 3DS XL because inventories for the unit are good; whereas the Wii U does seem to be much tighter than anyone expected it to be. The Wii U inventory shortage is already leading to wait lists, and some retailers are telling customers that they honestly don’t know if they are going to be able to fill all the requests they have for Wii U hardware.

Nintendo, of course, has a lot riding on this holiday season and the company is hopeful that they will be able to see significant sales increases over what they have seen the last couple of years; which will show that Nintendo had the right strategy all along. We just don’t know how well the Wii U and 3DS XL will do this holiday season, but Nintendo seems poised for it to be a successful holiday selling season if they can deliver enough product.

The PlayStation 3 Super Slim model that we have been telling you about is finally going to arrive on dealer shelves. While Sony has not officially announced the new models, it is expected that the company will confirm them during their Tokyo Game Show press conference on September 19th, according to our sources.

The Super Slim PS3 model will arrive with the latest cost saving features. It will be offered in two versions, a 12GB flash storage edition and a 500GB hard drive model. Many believe that the introduction of the new units for the holidays will be accompanied by a price cut, but that is still apparently up in the air in Sony land; and we are not sure it is going to happen.

Polygamia.pl shows a picture of a Polish retailer here, claiming it will arrive September 28th. You might want to bring your favorite translator.

Sources are whispering to us that if you thought Microsoft’s slashing the price of Kinect was a clear indication that a price cut was coming to the Xbox 360 console, don’t; because it isn’t happening, at least this holiday season.

Sources are telling us that Microsoft will do a special bundle for the Xbox 360 this holiday season, but they are not going to cut the price of the Xbox 360 hardware. The one exception to this is likely the Kinect bundled version of the Xbox 360, which will likely see a $40 price drop. Beyond that, Microsoft will hold steady with its current hardware pricing.

While some big retailers may offer some special deals that is about the only way you are going to see any real movement on the price. With Microsoft planning a new console for 2013 and still leading in sales, even with the Wii U coming Microsoft isn’t being pressured enough to have to drop the price of the hardware.

Nintendo is claiming that it has learned from the past; and besides confirming that the Wii U will arrive in time for the holidays in 2012, the company is apparently having some second thoughts about the name of its newest console.

Yes, that’s right: Nintendo could be considering changing the name of what we now know as the Wii U before its next generation console is released. The company apparently wants to apply what it learned from the Nintendo 3DS. The model name 3DS apparently has caused a lot of confusion with many consumers that didn’t understand that it was not just another DS console, but that instead it was something brand new that was more than just a DS with 3D support.

As we have told you previously, the company is planning to fill in more of the specifics on the Wii U later this year at E3. In the meantime, Nintendo is carefully considering everything surrounding the release of the Wii U, from the specifications and features, including the name of the product. It might seem late in the game, but Nintendo is determined to get it right; and it needs to get it right, as the success of the console will hinge on many of these decisions.

The biggest question that most gamers have still remains unanswered. That question, of course, is “How much is it going to cost?” Nintendo has provided no clues as to when they might enlighten us with an answer to that question.

Microsoft has announced that starting today, they will be shipping a Kinect holiday bundle. The bundle includes the Kinect hardware plus three full titles for the same $150 price tag.

While the titles could vary by region, we know that the North American Kinect holiday bundle will include Kinect Adventures, The Gunstringer and Fruit Ninja. Kinect Adventures will be included on disc, while The Gunstringer and Fruit Ninja will be included as download tokens. The additional two titles represent an additional savings of as much as $50.

It is difficult to say how much of an impact adding The Gunstringer and Fruit Ninja to the bundle will make. The good news is that The Gunstringer and Fruit Ninja are two solid Kinect titles that are almost must haves for Kinect owners. Still, if you have not purchased a Kinect sensor yet, this surely does provide some additional incentive to do so.

Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox 360 holiday bundle for the North American market will feature Halo Reach and Fable III this year for the 250GB system. The $299 bundle will also include a wireless controller, wired headset, and three months of Xbox Live for free. From what we understand, Fable III will be included on disc, while Halo Reach will be included as a download token.

For those that want Kinect, Microsoft will also be offering a Kinect bundle this holiday season. The $399 Kinect bundle will feature a 250GB Xbox 360, a single wireless controller, Kinect, wired headset, Kinect Adventures, Carnival Games: Monkey See Monkey Do; and, of course, three months of Xbox Live.

Microsoft is apparently expecting strong sales of consoles this holiday season, but there has been no price drop as many have expected. Analysts tell us that the console is selling well enough at the current price that there is no real reason to drop the price, but sweetening the deal with some add-ins could help move more consoles this holiday season.

New research by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agencies has revealed that more than half of British holidaymakers used social media platforms in the run up to their trip abroad to gain personal recommendations and reviews beforehand.

According to a new poll by one of the UK’s leading online independent travel agencies, social media platforms play a large part in holidaymakers’ decisions about where to visit. According to the poll, half holidaymakers claim to have used sites such as Facebook and Twitter to gather recommendations and reviews from people who may have personal experience of certain resorts.

The poll was carried out by www.sunshine.co.uk, which noticed an increase in traffic directed from social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Apparently more than 1,102 British holidaymakers subsequently took part, each of whom had been abroad in the past two years. Respondents were asked questions regarding how they went about selecting their eventual holiday destination.

Respondents were initially asked, ‘Did you research your chosen destination and accommodation before booking and going on your last holiday?’ to which the overriding majority, 98 percent said ‘yes’. These respondents were then asked to select all that applied from a list of possible answers about how exactly they researched their chosen destination and/or accommodation.

Review websites were the largest recommenders with 62 per cent. However this is pretty much to be expected. Social media platforms had 49 per cent. Only a third asked their travel agent. More than 26 per cent used word of mouth and one in five used a travel guide. Of the respondents who selected social media platforms as a means of researching holiday destinations and accommodation before booking, 61 per cent said they used Facebook, whilst 17 per cent said they used Twitter to do so.

A number of sources tell us that Apple is looking to move beyond Apple TV, and they are apparently working on what is being called a “Smart TV” prototype device that will combine a number of features to create a totally new and unique device.

The new Apple Smart TV device is likely to include some combination of TV content from a number of sources, including input from OTA or Cable Card and, of course, DVR functionality. It will likely include a number of apps for use on the TV, including FaceTime and web browser integration similar perhaps to what we have seen on the Google TV offering. Of course, the device will likely support gaming of some type, as well. It will offer a combination remote and keyboard in one.

It is hard to know all that it will offer, as it is still being defined, and right now they are still in the development stage. We do know that it is likely ARM-based, using the latest Apple dual core design running the latest version of iOS. It is likely that it will offer some sort of iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch docking support. It will offer several streaming options and some other programming.

Look for it to arrive with an official announcement around the holidays, according to the whispers we are hearing. Then again, it might amount to nothing and Apple may never bring the product to market.